Real-time ultrasound is routinely used to guide interventional procedures, such as biopsies and local ablative therapies (incl. radio-frequency ablation). With the recent introduction of real-time Multi-Planar Reconstruction (MPR) and bi-plane ultrasound on mechanical and matrix transducers it is now possible to gather in real-time anatomical information in any arbitrary planes. In bi-plane ultrasound imaging, two imaging planes are generated both of which intersect the transducer active aperture. MPR is a method for reconstructing two-dimensional images from a set of raw image data, i.e. from a set of transversal cross-sectional images arbitrary images with different orientation can be calculated, such as frontal, sagittal or oblique cross-sectional images. In MPR, a so determined imaging plane which does not intersect the transducer aperture is called C-plane.
US 2007/0073155 A1 describes a compact ultrasound needle guidance system and method for adjustably target a needle's destination in the imaging plane of a two-dimensional ultrasound image before insertion of a needle into a patient. In this system a needle holder is provided at an ultrasound probe for acquiring a two-dimensional image of a subject of examination. Knowing the position of the needle holder and thus the orientation of the needle, an intersection point of the needle with the two-dimensional image can be determined, assuming that the orientation of the needle is not changed during insertion. This intersection point can be marked when displaying the two-dimensional image on a display. However, this system is not very flexible in use such that there is a need for alternative imaging methods and systems.